French director Louis Leterrier’s latest film, the magician heist thriller Now You See Me, is poised to hit theaters in a couple of weeks, but it appears that the filmmaker is gearing up to commit to his next project.  Variety reports that the Incredible Hulk director is in early discussions to take the helm on a secretive project called Sea at War that was penned by Luc Besson (The Fifth Element, Taken).  Besson is also producing through his EuropaCorp banner, but plot details are being kept very firmly under wraps—Leterrier couldn’t even read the script outside of Besson’s office.

Nevertheless, the pic is rumored to be a mermaid adventure film, which would put Leterrier back in the fantasy realm that he explored with 2010’s Clash of the Titans.  Should he firmly commit to the project, we should start hearing more about Sea at War soon.

Michelle Williams and Joel Edgerton are teaming up on a remake of the 2009 Italian film The Double Hour.  Deadline reports that the two will topline the psychological thriller, which centers on two lovers “who find themselves victims in the midst of a dangerous and well planned robbery.”  Joshua Marston (Maria Full of Grace) is onboard to write and direct, and the project is currently seeking financing at the Cannes Film Festival.  The Australian-born Edgerton was most recently seen onscreen as Tom Buchanan in The Great Gatsby and he’s currently filming the production-troubled Western Jane Got a Gun opposite Natalie Portman.  As for Williams, she’s currently being eyed for the female lead in director John Wells’ drama Chef starring Bradley Cooper.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer for director Giuseppe Capotondi’s original film.

20th Century Fox has unveiled a teaser trailer for the animated sequel Rio 2, and if you’re a fan of dancing birds, then this clip is for you.  The film finds Anne Hathaway and Jesse Eisenberg reprising their voice roles as Jewel and Blu, with the couple packing up their three kids and leaving the city for a journey into the Amazon.  Naturally, they encounter a host of colorful characters both friendly and villainous, with Andy Garcia, Rita Moreno, Bruno Mars, and Kristin Chenoweth joining the voice cast.  The trailer doesn’t show any of the aforementioned plot at all, but instead focuses on bright colors, samba music, and dancing.

Hit the jump to watch the teaser.  Rio 2 opens in 3D on April 11, 2014.

Universal Pictures has released a new trailer, images, and a debut poster for writer/director David Twohy’s Riddick.  The Chronicles of Riddick follow-up finds the titular character, played by Vin Diesel, left for dead on a deserted planet filled with predators both alien and human, as bounty hunters once again are out for Riddick’s head.  Clocking in at two and a half minutes long, this trailer shows off much more footage than the first teaser, but there’s not much revealed by way of plot.  In fact, it really looks as though one could comfortably watch Riddick without having seen the first two films in the series and be completely onboard.  With Karl Urban returning, though, one imagines there’s at least a small throughline that connects Riddick with Chronicles.  Though some of the effects are a bit spotty, if you’re a fan of the character and/or the first two films, this trailer promises that Riddick is likely right up your alley.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer, poster, and images.  The film also stars Katee Sackhoff, David Bautista, Jordi Mollà, Matt Nable, Bokeem Woodbine, Raoul Trujillo, and Nolan Gerard Funk.  Riddick opens in traditional theaters and IMAX on September 6th.

Summit Entertainment has released a new image from director Neil Burger’s (The Illusionist) adaptation of the YA novel Divergent.  Based on the book by author Veronica Roth, the story takes place in a futuristic society where people are divided into factions based on their personalities, and Shailene Woodley’s Tris is a young girl who doesn’t fit into any of the pre-assigned groups and faces termination due to her status as a “Divergent.”  This new image highlights a pivotal moment in the story when Tris begins her initiation into one of the factions, and it also provides a great view of the Chicago skyline, which is where the pic is being filmed.

Hit the jump to check out the new image along with a high-resolution version of the previous image that was released, and if you missed it click here to check out our recent lengthy interview with Roth about the film and the final novel in the book series.  Divergent also stars Kate Winslet, Theo James, Ashley Judd, Tony Goldwyn, and Ray Stevenson and opens on March 21, 2014.

The Angry Birds movie is moving full-speed ahead, as Sony Pictures Entertainment announced today that it has acquired worldwide distribution rights to the feature film adaptation of the popular video game.  Rovio Entertainment is developing, producing, and financing the pic itself, with John Cohen (Despicable Me) and David Maisel (Iron Man) onboard to produce the 3D animated film.  We previously knew that Rovio was targeting a 2016 release date, and Sony has firmed that up by announcing Angry Birds will hit theaters on July 1, 2016.

A director or screenwriter has yet to be announced and story details are non-existent, but this is an incredibly lucrative property that is bound to do big business with the younger crowd when it hits theaters on the Fourth of July weekend in 2016.  Production is slated to begin in the next few months, at which point we should learn more about the animated comedy.  Hit the jump to read the press release.

Tuesday evening’s TV ratings are in.  Here’s a look at the night’s original scripted programming:

• The season finale of Fox’s New Girl was even with last week’s 2.1 rating in the 18-49 demo and scored 4.06 million viewers, while the season finale of The Mindy Project was also flat with a 1.3 rating and 2.65 million viewers.
• NBC’s Grimm notched a 1.7 rating and 5.51 million viewers, dipping a tenth from last week’s 1.8 rating.
• Over at CBS, NCIS garnered a 3.2 rating and 18.16 million viewers for a rise of one tenth from last week’s 3.1 rating, NCIS: Los Angeles earned a 2.5 rating and notched 13.35 million viewers for a rise of one tenth from last week’s 2.4 rating, and Golden Boy was even with last week’s 1.2 rating and scored 7.1 million viewers.
• ABC’s Body of Proof was even with last week’s 1.4 rating and garnered 8.52 million viewers.

Magnet Releasing has announced a slew of directors that will be contributing to the horror anthology sequel ABCs of Death 2, and it’s a fairly diverse lineup.  Like its predecessor, the pic will deliver 26 genre-oriented short films each relating to a different letter of the alphabet.  The producers are branching out of the horror genre for this new host of filmmakers, as Álex de la Iglesia (The Last Circus), Rodney Ascher (Room 237), and animation director Bill Plympton will be helming segments alongside Kristina Buozyte and Bruno Samper (Vanishing Waves), Sion Sono (Cold Fish), Vincenzo Natali (Splice), Marcus Dunstan (The Collection), and many more.

Additional filmmakers are expected to be announced over the next few months, as production will get underway for a planned 2014 release.  The follow-up is described as “a wilder, leaner, faster paced and even more entertaining anthology” than the first film, so hold on to your butts, folks.  Hit the jump to read the press release, which includes the full list of directors announced thus far.

Here’s a look at this week’s new Blu-ray releases:

• Cloud Atlas (Blu-ray/DVD + UltraViolet Digital Copy Combo Pack) – $22.99 (36% off)
• Dexter: The Seventh Season [Blu-ray] – $29.99 (55% off)
• Texas Chainsaw [3D Blu-ray + Blu-ray + Digital Copy + UltraViolet]- $19.99 (50% off)
• 3:10 to Yuma (Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray] – $27.86 (30% off)
• Crimewave (BluRay/DVD Combo) [Blu-ray] – $19.99 (26% off)
• Back to 1942 [Blu-ray] – $14.99 (50% off)

While it looks like composer Michael Giacchino won’t be able to play around in the world of Star Wars, he’s nevertheless set to tackle another exciting and beloved film franchise.  J.J. Abrams’ longtime collaborator shared an image on Twitter of a monkey dressed up as a composer, saying it was the outfit he would wear while recording the score for the sequel Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.  Matt Reeves—another longtime friend and collaborator of Abrams’—is helming the Apes pic, and Giacchino previously worked with Reeves on the director’s past two films, Let Me In and Cloverfield.

Giacchino is an incredibly gifted composer, and I can’t wait to hear what he puts together for the new Apes pic.  His past work is incredibly varied—from Star Trek to Up to Lost—so one assumes it’ll be something wholly different yet unsurprisingly fantastic.  His current slate includes Lana and Andy Wachowski’s sci-fi film Jupiter Ascending and director Brad Bird’s Tomorrowland.  Hit the jump to sample some of his work and to see his Tweet in full.

A few casting stories to share this afternoon.  Briefly:

• Chris Pine will be reuniting with his Smokin Aces director Joe Carnahan on the low-budget comedic thriller Stretch opposite Patrick Wilson.
• Homeland star and Broadway veteran Mandy Patinkin has been set in the role of Zach Braff’s father in Braff’s partially Kickstarter-funded directorial effort Wish I Was Here.
• Lust, Caution stars Wei Tang and Leehom Wang have boarded Michael Mann’s untitled cyber thriller starring Chris Hemsworth.

Hit the jump for more on the aforementioned projects.

Fresh off the announcement of its primetime 2013-14 schedule this morning, ABC has released first-look trailers for all of its new series.  We already shared the full trailer for Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., but here are the other new shows that we’ll be looking at today:

• Once Upon a Time in Wonderland – The spinoff series of the network’s fantasy show stars Sophie Lowe as the titular Alice and features John Lithgow as the voice of the White Rabbit.
• Trophy Wife – A mixed family comedy starring Malin Akerman as a reformed party girl who must contend with her new husband’s (Bradley Whitford) numerous ex-wives.
• Betrayal – A drama series starring Hannah Ware and Stuart Townsend as new lovers who find themselves on opposite sides of a murder investigation.
• Killer Women – A midseason drama series starring Tricia Helfer as the only female Texas Ranger patrolling the Texas frontier.
• Mind Games – Steve Zahn and Christian Slater star in this midseason drama procedural about two brothers who use the hard science of psychological manipulation to solve clients’ problems.
• Mixology – From the screenwriters behind The Hangover, this ensemble comedy stars Blake Lee and Andrew Santino and centers on ten single people who cross paths in a bar.
• Resurrection – The people in a small Missouri town are forever changed when their deceased love ones suddenly start to return.  Omar Epps stars in this midseason drama series.
• Lucky 7 - A drama series about seven friends who unexpectedly win the lottery.  Isiah Whitlock Jr. stars.
• And the new comedies Super Fun Night (starring Rebel Wilson), The Goldbergs (starring Jeff Garlin), and Back in the Game (starring James Caan).

Hit the jump to watch the trailers and to check out some images from the new series.

We’re just days away from the US release of J.J. Abrams’ sequel Star Trek Into Darkness, and to mark the occasion Paramount has released a batch of high-resolution images from the film.  By now, you probably already know whether you’ll be seeking this one out or not, but if you’re a fan of Trek and just can’t wait another 24 hours before seeing the film, this image gallery should appease you for now.  We’ve seen some of these images before, but a few of them are new and all of them are in glorious high-resolution.  If you missed Steve’s spoiler-free video blog review of the film, click here.

Hit the jump to check out the images.  The film stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Benedict Cumberbatch, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, Alice Eve, John Cho, and Bruce Greenwood.  Star Trek Into Darkness opens in IMAX 3D tomorrow, and in both 2D and 3D in traditional theaters on May 16th.

Will Smith is setting his sights on a reboot of a classic Western in the near future.  Warner Bros. has been developing a remake of Sam Peckinpah’s classic 1969 film The Wild Bunch for a couple of years now, with Tony Scott most recently attached to take the helm.  Scott sadly passed away before his iteration of the film could make it to the screen, but Warner Bros. is still keen on getting this thing going and they’re roping in some major star power to move it forward as Will Smith is currently in negotiations to star in and produce the Wild Bunch remake.  Hit the jump for more.

Lionsgate has released a new poster for director Francis Lawrence’s upcoming sequel The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.  The film finds Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss and Josh Hutcherson’s Peeta dealing with the after-effects of the first film, as a nation-wide uprising begins to swell.  This new poster is quite visually appealing, and it’s graced with the following quote from the novel “The sun persists in rising, so I make myself stand.”  While I was admittedly apprehensive about Francis Lawrence taking over the director’s chair from Gary Ross, the first trailer for Catching Fire was pretty spot-on, and this new poster has me really looking forward to seeing more footage from the film.

Hit the jump to check out the new poster.  The film also stars Liam Hemsworth, Sam Claflin, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson, Donald Sutherland, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jena Malone, Jeffrey Wright, and Amanda Plummer.  The Hunger Games: Catching Fire opens on November 22nd in IMAX and traditional theaters.